My Gardening

When we first moved to this property, I tried to garden using traditional methods i.e. growing plants in soil. Not very successful. I could not keep water up to the plants. The annual rainfall here is 600mm, but we have 2.5m annual evaporation, so their is a large water deficiency.

I then tried raised garden beds with building plastic underneath to try and stop the tree roots stealing the water. Much better production, but after a couple of years, the roots worked their way into the beds.

I tried growing in containers, but that meant watering at least once per day. I tried hydroponics, but was not happy dumping the water every so often due to the build up of salts and minerals. Aquaculture did not produce the food we needed, and obtaining a licence is an expensive exercise.

While working in Alice Springs, we stayed on a property where the owner had made use of old bath tubs and a lined garden pond to create an aquaponics system. He had about 200 silver perch fingerlings in the pond and an old spa bath, with about 20 old bath tubs. The production of vegetables was amazing.

I started reading and learning all I could about this system of plant production, as I thought that it might solve many of the issues that I have here. We are on a similar latitude to Alice Springs, and have a similar climate, with frosts over winter and hot days during summer, and raining whenever it happens (no real set pattern).